Cold Trip

Dave Madill : Dave has been entertaining us with his poetry since 2001.
Posted By Dave Madill : Dave has been entertaining us with his poetry since 2001. On 2021-03-19 17:36:34

It was January, and I loaded up with wood moulding in Yakima, Washington and headed for Alexandria, Ontario. I crossed the border up by Bonner and prepared to take the load across Canada. The border crossing went well, and I had no problems other than poor winter conditions, which caused me to slow down a bit and be a little more careful. The load was cinched down, tarped up, and considering the time of year; things were going quite well.

I spent the night just on the Northside of Thunder Bay at the fuel stop and then headed out intending to make North Bay and deliver the next day. From listening to the CB, I found out that the highway around the lake was in horrible conditions, so I decided to take the north route through Longlac and Hearst as that road was said to be in fair condition.

I made it up to Longlac, and whoever said the road was OK didn’t know what he was talking about as I was running slow due to drifting snow and poor visibility, not to mention that it was cold enough for Polar Bears. After a quick coffee break, I was back on the road, and things were humming right along, but man, was it getting colder. I figured I was about 20 miles out of Hearst when I noted that my engine was overheating, so I shut it down and pulled over to the side to check things out. Belts all looked good, the rad was right up, and everything else looked great. I hopped back in and fired the big kitty back up, and then I noticed I had no heat coming from the heater- Oh Crap - that meant I just blew a water pump, and there was nothing around there to help me out but trees. I knew it would get cold inside, so I put on all my cold-weather gear and tried to figure out what to do. I figured I could let the engine cool, then fire it up and make a mile or so before having to shut it off, and if I repeated this a few times, I could make Hearst, where there was a repair shop right on the west side of town. Two hours later, and still, no sign of Hearst, and I knew I was in trouble when an OPP cruiser pulled up to check and make sure I was OK. I had already started shivering badly, and I was sure glad to hop in his warm patrol car. He told me I was only a couple miles from town, and after warming up a bit, I told him I was going to try and limp the truck into town. He said he would try and get back to me when he got a chance, so I hopped back in the truck and tried again. Three or four stop and goes, and I finally made it into the town and pulled off into the large parking lot at the repair shop, but by now, I was in trouble. Shut the truck down, locked it up and staggered across the parking lot to where I could see a Motel sign but after banging on the door and pushing the buzzer for a while, I realized it was closed, and I stumbled down the road and literally fell into the Timmie’s shop that was just about to close for the night. I only made it through the first set of doors when I collapsed, and the manager who was heading over to lock up had to drag me inside. The next thing I knew my coat and mitts had been removed, and I was inside a nice warm “kitchen” where they fed me about four cups of hot chocolate and phoned the ambulance. I convinced the paramedics that I was not in too bad a condition, and they took me over to the local hotel, which was open and still had a few rooms left. Into the room, and after a HOT bath, I wasn’t shaking anymore and realized just how lucky I was to have made it.

The truck had blown a water pump, and aside from having to wait for a new one to be sent by Greyhound from Toronto, everything was fine. I got my 36 hours reset on my log, got a couple of good nights rest, and my load was only a couple of days late, but that didn’t much matter as they had lots of product in stock.

One thing I did realize after that was that you don’t fool around with -40 degree weather if you want to live and keep trucking. I had been lucky - another 15 minutes or so outside in those temps, and I would have died, but I had pushed the limit and managed to make it.


Previous Blogs

Bella Coola by Glen Mallard

Hole in One by Dave Madill

On The Wrong Road by John Maywood

Wildlife by Colin Black

On the Road Again by Myrna Chartrand...

Cooking Class by Scott Casey

Know Your Limits by Ed Murdoch...

2020 Vision by Greg Evasiuk...

Jokes

With 35 years of combined publishing experience, you will see this unique and much improved trucking magazine called Pro Trucker Driver's Choice Magazine

Getting Started

Lawful Torture

Little Star

It's Now Or Never

Winter Blues

Sheep

The First Time

Let's Block the Road!

In the Face of History

Human Trafficing

Nature’s Child

Distracted Driving

WE EXIST TO ASSIST

The Virus

"What do you look forward to?"

“Fuel Tanks”

You want me to go where?

From Zero to Hero to Zero

ELD’s and Speed Limiters – Are They Really Safe?

The Dream (July 2005)

The Lonesome Camaraderie of the Transportation Industry

Strange Times

Lockdown Toilets

Life goes on

The Czech Invasion.

A Steep Learning Curve

Fools Casting Calls

We Are All In This Together

How to get Time Off

A New Year

Added Benefits of Trucking

An ill Wind

Loving the Road

Insecure Loads

Memories

All Things Shiny and New

B-Trains

The Good Ol’ Days

Cold Trip

Brexit

A Moment’s Distraction

Have or Have not

Music and Me

Travels With Ringo

Distracted Driver

Changes

ELDs, Roads and Covid

Female of The Species

The Switch

Flood of 60

Crimes Against Humanity

Training Hours

In the Truck’s Clutches

Attitude & Altitude

Wide Open Spaces (and closed in places)

Trucking is a Trade

A night to remember

Loading Heavy Equipment

CLIMATE CHANGE & TRUCKING

Truck Routes

Then and Now

Attitude & Altitude

A Girl Just Wants to Have Fun…

The Weekend!

Unity

How I Write

In The Beginning Part 3

Tires and Unions

Stay Safe

My Rant…

Isolation

I learned a New Trick

It ain’t the years - it’s the miles.

It’s Time, Gentlemen, Time

Coincidences

The Brain

Blind Man's Buff

Editor's Note

The Flitting

Eastbound

What I Did This Summer

Pictures

Adventure

Show Ready

Trolls

Big Rig Weekends

Love and Trucking

Books and Covers

Like a Boss

It's a Wonderful World

Common Sense By Glen “The duck” Millard

Dad meets a “Bear.”

All Experience isn’t Good Experience…

The Weather Outside is Frightful…

Common Sense

Bad Breaks and Good Luck

Driving Through My Memories for January/February 2023

Service???

Time to Reset!

Halcyon Days of Trucking

All Experience…

The Piggy Bus Encounter

Sports and Life Lessons

Winter Storms

Humboldt Tragedy_MELT program

Driving Through My Memories

On The Road Again

Wait Over Weight

I Write

Elliot Lake

The Good (?) Old Trucks

Canadian and Proud of it

Six Cans for Buffalo Joe

Monkeys and Peanuts

Safety First

30? 60? 90? Late Pay

Nothing New

Technology

Has anything changed?

Holidays - Then Back To The Grind.

Old Trucker Troubles

Loose Moose

Some of the Trucks I've Seen

The Last Ride

Cold Load Home

Make it a Holiday

Winter Wonderland Trucking

Thinning the Herd

Just Be There…

And to All, a Good Night!

Dumb and Dumber

Helping Out in a Clutch

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

Driver Retention Matters_ New Volvo VNL

Consistency

Tires and Trouble

Idle time

Dinner on the Road

Load Security

Tourist Trucking

The Last Ride